35pucks

 Ok, it's been a while since posting anything.  Obviously, much has happened in the past two years since COVID has started.  There's another addition to the family, we've experienced having COVID, and plenty of other things.  Perhaps one of the biggest things that happened was that we purchased the house that we're in.  So now we finally get to do some upgrades to our place.  The projects that we got to do ourselves, well, surprised us a little how well it turned out!  One of the tasks was to remove the wallpaper in our kitchen.  We had this grassy wallpaper and when scraping under it, we discovered another layer of wallpaper.  Our home is old (built in the '40s), so it was interesting to see the "history" of the walls.  One product we used was this: https://amzn.to/3JVhN6Y This thing was amazing! It saved us so much time.  We were trying to use a spray and scrape off the wallpaper.  That was taking too long.  Luckily, my ...

One simple thing I've used to help entertain the kids is showing explore.org .  My co-worker showed me this a few years ago and I've loved it since.  It's a website that has a lot of live streams.  Streams include calming outdoor environment, a variety of animals, and even aquariums.  It can serve as educational talking points for your kids too! That's it!  Stay safe!

Today starts a new era.  It's the first day of the shelter-in-place of Bay Area residents in order to slow down the spread of the Corona virus.  Last night was one of the oddest feelings you can have before going to bed.  It felt as if we were in some Cinderella movie where once midnight strikes, your life will be forever changed.  I guess that's kind of what happened- life is changed.  Kids have no school for at least three weeks, must stay away from others at least six feet, and many places are closed.  It is nice to still be able to go out of the house and be outside- also able to go to parks if needed, as well as buy gas/groceries. The challenge? Home with all the kids all day long.  No break at all- maybe when some are napping, but otherwise extremely thankful for my wife (S) and how much she has planned and prepared the kids for the day.  Still, it makes for some longer days but I guess it just means bonus time with the kids! Overall, it's...

The past few weeks of dispatcher training- Training has been quite a roller coaster.  In the beginning, I found it quite enjoyable because I was able to sit back and absorb all that was going on and seeing how the dynamics of the team works.  It's incredible how the team that's on works together, helps each other, and knows their stuff so well!  I told a lot of them that they are amazing at what they do.  As training goes on, it gets more involved where I'm actually taking calls and getting on the air, communicating with the units.  This is where the roller coaster heads a little downward.  As I get more involved, I'm finding where my issues are and where areas that need improvement are.  There's so much to be learned, I feel like I'm a little fish trying to drink the ocean, and perhaps, I'm feeling like I'm too spread out where I'm trying to cover so much, but can only progress in tiny, tiny increments in each thing I'm learning.  In turn, I f...

2/27/2015 Starting Sunday, 2/15/2015, I started a job which would probably be one of the toughest challenges I've taken on.  This journey all started a few years ago in 2013.  I applied for the Emergency Services Dispatcher job for Alameda County.  I was invited to take the test, and honestly a little surprised to learn that I've been invited to the interview stage.  I did that, but didn't make it into the hiring group, but was ranked high enough to stay in the hiring pool for a year.  Eventually, I took on a job with 24 Hour Fitness as a tax administrator.  During my time there, in June 2014, I was contacted by Alameda County HR asking if I wanted to re-interview for the same position.  What the heck- I did, and 8 months later, I'm working there! The past two weeks have been filled with a lot of memorization of codes and processes.  This was a task that seems impossible, but I think I'm now seeing it as a little more doable.  My trainer ha...

2/27/15 Just recently, it was time to resign from my position at 24 Hour Fitness as a property tax administrator.  I enjoyed my time there starting from halloween of 2013 till 2/12/15.  Being in the corporate office was an eye-opening experience.  I'm so appreciative of my boss, who I viewed as my father-type figure at work and guided and taught me along the way.  Doing business personal property taxes was not the easiest thing I've done in my life.  I do like math, but only simple math.  When it comes to finances and accounting concepts, I'm definitely not the best at that.  The other co-workers have been great in showing me along as well.  I respect every single person I've met there because they work so hard and apply all their knowledge to the work they conduct.  It's amazing to see how all the gears turn in each department.  Everyone has a specific role and gets it all done.  I do miss my cube and space I had- the dual-screen ...

Yeah- I like to post a lot of things that bother me... or it kind of sounds like complaining..haha.  Maybe it's my attempt to create a world that caters to me.  How selfish of me!  Well, here's my list of things that bug me when I'm on the road: 1. People cutting into your lane right before the exit off ramp . This especially annoys me when they have all the time in the world to get into that lane, and then for some reason, they HAVE TO go in front of you just to exit when there's absolutely no cars behind me.  I don't get it.  I guess it goes along with the phrase I like to use when driving- "everyone always has to be first."  I am convinced that at least 75% of drivers always has to be first in line, which leads to my next one: 2.  Impatience at a red light, at your expense . When I'm the only car at a red light, and there's a few lanes going straight, there's always the car that eventually makes it to the red light that's in the sa...